Culture of Christmases past on display in Pickering

Pickering Museum Village hosts Christmas in the Village

The celebration will feature traditional Christmas activities that children living in historic Pickering Township would have looked forward to during the festive season.

Included in the event will be the Welsh Christmas tradition of Calennig, where children go door-to-door on New Year's Day and deliver a Calennig, which was an apple with three stick legs studded with almonds and cloves with a candle on top. Receiving a Calennig was supposed to bring good luck in the new year.

Scottish settlers didn't celebrate at Christmas, but did celebrate the new year with customs that were intended to encourage good luck. On the stroke of midnight the head of the household would open the doors wide and the old year was then swept out the back door of the house. While this was happening, children and other family members would bang pots and pans, clap their hands and stomp their feet to make as much noise as possible in order to drive away evil spirits.

The event will also feature traditions including Victorian-era parlour games, which were used to entertain family members during Christmas visits, and the 19th-century tradition of travelling to the general store to sit on Father Christmas's lap and tell him your wish list.

Children of all ages can enjoy the magic of Christmas past during Christmas in the Village, Winter in the Woods, which will be held on Sunday, Dec. 9 from noon to 3:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.pickering.ca/museum or call 905-683-8401.